


Fate Is Not an Eagle, It Creeps Like a Rat

by mistrali



Category: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Implied Character Death, Moral Ambiguity, Torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-04-23
Updated: 2013-04-23
Packaged: 2017-12-09 07:53:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/771823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mistrali/pseuds/mistrali
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of 50 David drabbles for Set 1 of ka_verse at Livejournal. The title is both an Elizabeth Bowen quote and the prompt for one of the drabbles.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Fate Is Not An Eagle, It Creeps Like a Rat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for rattyjol's prompt at comment_fic on LJ: Fate is not an eagle, it creeps like a rat.
> 
> Prompt: #43 Plot
> 
> Non-graphic mentions of torture.

He's glad they trapped him as a rat: it lets him be sneaky. They don't deserve the silent, neat death a golden eagle would bring. He'll crawl in under their defences and chip away at their arrogance, their unity. They broke his dreams, now he wants to break them.

He wants to hear Jake scream for his mom, see Tobias' wings sizzle. He wants the satisfaction of denying Cassie's pathetic appeals to his better nature. He wants to wipe that damn smirk off Marco's face and hold a sword to the Andalite's throat until he trembles.

And he wants Rachel dead. Beautiful, volatile Rachel. He'll save her for last.


	2. Lie At My Mercy, Mine Enemy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AU, character death. Quote adapted from Shakespeare's The Tempest.

**Prompt** :  _#20 Obligation_

 **Character(s)** : Aximili, Rachel, David

* * *

The cold anger I had felt earlier was gone, replaced by shame. I recalled War Prince Arfil, one of my instructors at the  _aristh_ training academy, droning about the Andalite military code of conduct. He had told it to us when we first entered the academy, short-stalked and blue about the tail-blades, as the saying goes. I had been eager to prove that I knew everything there was to know - I was Elfangor's brother, after all. And so I had shuffled my hooves until I was asked to name the first three tenets of the code. [Andalite warriors are duty-bound to protect the innocent. To prove themselves equal to any challenge. And to, um, to…]

[To serve the Electorate with all honour and justice,  _aristh_  Aximili! A feat which most of you have yet to master,] he had added, swivelling his stalk eyes to encompass every stall.

[These tricks are dishonourable,] I managed to say now, turning my own stalk eyes towards Rachel. [They are unworthy of warriors.]

She bared grizzly teeth. [He almost killed Tobias, he  _murdered_  Saddler and he almost blew our cover. You think I'm gonna sit here and let the little weasel morph back to human?!] Her paw tightened around the plastic net we had used to trap David, just as he had attempted to trap us.

[Revenge is a noble cause,] I said, repeating one of our training epigrams. [But a warrior tempers his anger.]

She turned to face me. [Ax? Drop the high-and-mighty act. We humans don't like being preached to.]

I had no answer to that. For all their primitivity, humans are a proud species. And it was true that had David killed Tobias, it would have been my duty as an Andalite warrior to avenge the death of my  _shorm_  and fellow soldier. Of course, I reflected bitterly, I hadn't even managed to seek revenge for my own brother. Some  _aristh_  I was turning out to be.

We sat in silence for a minute, each thinking our own thoughts and trying our best to ignore the screaming in our heads. Rachel still had her grip on the plastic net. If David tried to demorph, Rachel would restrain him, while I morphed tiger shark in case he decided to attempt the long and arduous swim to shore. He could not fly away, since even a seagull's wings would have difficulty flapping enough to carry him over the water, and the winds were not strong enough for a golden eagle to take off.

[You can't trap me here!] cried David, as if reading my thoughts. [I'll contact the Yeerks, I swear. I'll tell someone. Visser Three. I'll tell him I'm an Andalite bandit. Or… or a human.]

My main eyes snapped open. [Do not presume to play games, traitor. Even if you could escape from this island, who would believe a talking rat? A low-ranking human Controller would kill you first.]

[Don't give me your bullshit, Andalite. How long before some greedy Controller takes me to Visser Three in exchange for some street cred? I have all the time in the world, you know. Tick-tock, Andalite. Tick-tock.]

[Nobody would be that stupid. Not unless they wanted to lose a limb. Visser Three wants morph-capable hosts,] Rachel said slowly.

[Uh-uh. Don't play dumb with me: I know you're smart, Rachel.  _You've_  seen the possibilities, haven't you, Andalite? I could tell them where you were. What would he give me for that, huh?]

[What do you want, David? Power? Recognition? What do you get from selling out your own kind?] she sneered.

[Oh, but you aren't my kind. The rats are my kind, remember, Rachel? I'd rather live with them than with the great and glorious Animorphs. Noble, aren't you?] he added bitterly. [Leaving me to suffer here. Kill me outright, you cowards.]

[No,] she started to say.

[Yes,] I said firmly in private thought-speak, cutting her off. [ He needs to die, Rachel. He may escape and warn the Yeerks. We cannot take that chance.]

[It's a rocky island in the middle of nowhere, Ax. Boats don't come here. There's not even a loading dock for freight ships.] I looked around at the seawater and rock encircling the island, and the low cold winds blowing around it. Though it would be the easier choice, we could not afford to take risks.

[But if a boat were to arrive? If that one vessel carried a cargo of Controllers?] I pressed.

[Fine!] she shouted. I jerked in surprise. [Fine,] she repeated, more quietly. [I'll do it.]

[I will help you.]

[Uh-huh. You ever killed in cold blood before? Tell me you'd have the guts.]

I was silent. I had not even been able to kill Alloran. I had not been able to stop his suffering. Would it be easier with David, who was not of my own species?

[I told you,] she said tonelessly. [It's why Jake picked me, Ax. To do your dirty work. So you guys wouldn't feel bad.]

[Prince Jake cares for you, Rachel.]

[Yeah. He sure acts like it sometimes.]

[Prince Elfangor… he once told me that a leader must make decisions at the expense of one, for the good of the group, ] I said gently. [ I begin to see what he meant.]

[Yeah. Me too. Shall I… you know… get it over with?]

[Yes. I think that would be the best course.]

[Sorry, David. You gotta do what you gotta do.]

She struck with one deadly paw. The rat's squeal was cut off. I stared at the grey lump and the smear of blood on the ground; other rodents would swarm in to devour it before long.


End file.
